New company is spun off to manufacture improved natural gas version

By Brian Nearing

Updated 7:00 am, Wednesday, July 23, 2014

General Electric Co. is touting an improved natural gas fuel cell that it hopes one day will provide low-cost electricity to commercial and industrial plants, as well as allow for targeted boosts to electrical grids without the need for costly large power plants and added transmission lines.

A new company spun off from technology created at GE's Global Research Center in Niskayuna is poised to start a demonstration manufacturing project this month in a leased building at Saratoga Technology + Energy Park in Malta, said Johanna Wellington, general manager and CEO of GE fuel cell operations.

So far about 20 workers, many from the Niskayuna research center, are at the fledgling facility, with a total of 30 expected to be there by the end of the year, she said. More workers could be added later, said Wellington, who heads sustainable energy programs at Niskayuna GE.

Lessons learned by GE in manufacturing the new fuel cells — which use stainless steel and other materials, rather than more-expensive metals like platinum used in current fuel cell technology — will be applied when the company moves to build a full-scale manufacturing plant in the region, said Wellington.

"This should help us learn quicker and get the technology to the field faster ... We are still a couple of years away from commercial production," she said.

That could result in another example of GE technology developed in Niskayuna seeding new manufacturing in the Capital Region. Already, such research has sparked a $170 million high-tech battery plant in Schenectady with 375 workers — expected to grow to 450 jobs in coming years — and a GE Healthcare digital imaging plant in North Greenbush that was expected to employ about 100 people.

The improved fuel cells, which Wellington said are about the size of a "couple of tractor-trailers," convert natural gas into electricity through a chemical process at about 1,500 degrees that also produces water, heat and synthetic gas.

"The cost challenges associated with the technology have stumped a lot of people for a long time," she said. "But we made it work, and we made it work economically. It's a game-changer."

About 65 percent of the energy available in the natural gas emerges from the fuel cell as electricity, she said, which is a step up from current fuel cell technology that captures from 30 percent to slightly more than 50 percent of the potential energy, based on the particular design.

Wellington said the upgraded fuel cells' efficiency comparable favorably to a traditional gas-fired power plant, which converts about 61 percent of its energy into electricity. If GE can configure a way to capture waste heat from its upgraded cell, efficiency could be raised to 95 percent, she said.

Sized between 1 to 10 megawatts, "these cells are not for residential use," said Wellington. A megawatt can power about 1,000 average homes for a year.

Rather, GE is aiming at the market of commercial and industrial plants where owners want a reliable power source that will keep running even when the grid is blacked out. "As long as you have natural gas, you can have low-priced electricity 24/7," she said. "This technology ties in with the natural gas boom currently happening in the U.S."

Another potential market are electrical grids around the world looking for ways to add more power without having to invest in costly centralized power plants and upgraded transmission lines, the siting of which can sometimes be problematic due to local opposition.

Wellington said the fuel cells can be "plugged into" existing substations along a grid, adding power incrementally, rather than all at once. The global market for such cells is currently estimated at $1 billion annually and is expected to grow, she added.

Job openings at the plant are currently available online at gecareers.com. Wellington said positions include fuel cell engineers, as well as workers with experience in mechanical systems and operations.